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Puerto Rico books ticket to next round

 

   

TORONTO, Canada, July 20, 2015 – Puerto Rico outclassed Peru in straight sets 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-23) to grab third place in Pool B at the women’s volleyball tournament of the Pan American Games at Toronto Exhibition Center on Monday.

 

The Puerto Ricans executed 7 aces from the service line against only 2 by the Peruvians while both teams scored with 8 blocks. The losers made 26 unforced errors, ten more than the winners.

 

Karina Ocasio and Stefanie Enright were the two Puerto Ricans with double figures in the charts with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Lynda Morales and Sheila Ocasio contributed 9 and 8 points in the victory.

 

Angela Leyva had 14 points for Peru, followed by Maguilaura Frias with 8 tallies. Ginna Lopez and Clarivett Yllescas each had 6 points in the losing cause.

 

José Mieles, Coach of Puerto Rico: “I am glad and thank God for the chance of being here. I’m proud of the girls because they qualified to the quarterfinals. The most important thing is that after playing our worst match against USA we could recover and today we showed a better performance, like the ones we had at the Grand Prix and have to focus in our next match that will be very intense.”

 

Sheila Ocasio, Player of Puerto Rico: “We lowered the guard a little bit in the third set. We were not as aggressive as the first two and that gave them some confidence, but we could close that set. We lost our two previous matches, but that doesn’t mean that we are not a quality team. Those were very tight matches and now we are in the next round”.

 

Mauro Marasciulo, Coach of Peru: “We committed a sin, because we missed a defensive play and also failed with one serve, so we lost the advantage that could be so important to close a set. However I feel some satisfaction because we have gained exposure against teams that have won against our direct rivals (in the South American region) and I feel we are not so far away from them. Puerto Rico (played Argentina at Grand Prix and Pan Am Cup) showed that is in great shape and that is important in our goals to improve our level”.

 

Angela Leyva, Captain of Peru: “This is part of a development process. We are still putting things together as a team. We began very well at the last set with a lot of motivation, we fell down but tried to wake up and react. We have to keep on working hard, training and participating in more tournaments like this to grow up.”